When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

— 1 Corinthians 13:11

When you were born again, your spirit (or you) was instantly changed into the image and likeness of Christ.  Your soul, which is your mind, will, emotions, and understanding, was not changed.  Although you became a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), you still thought, understood, and spoke like a child.  God gave you His Word and Spirit so you would slowly put away childish thinking, understanding, and talking.  He wants you to desire the sincere milk of the Word so that you may grow thereby (1 Peter 2:2).  If you spend time in the Word and under the Word, it will change your thinking and your talking.  As your speech is changed, you will soon start to agree with God and His Word, and the law of faith will go into operation.  Childish unbelief talk will leave your life.  Fear, complaining, and critical talk will be replaced by God’s Word.  What you talk, you will become full of.  As you talk in line with power, you will be full of power; as you talk in line with faith, you will be full of faith.  Soon situations and circumstances that are anti-Word will not change your faith-thinking and faith-talking.  Then, no matter what the challenge, you will continue to live like a mature person and put away childish things.  You are now walking by faith, not by sight; you are now the just one who lives by faith.

We, having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;

— 2 Corinthians 4:13

Faith is not only a spiritual law, it is a spirit –- the spirit of faith.  The spirit of faith is the Spirit of God, who supplies the supernatural power behind your faith.  There is a spirit of faith and also a spirit of fear.  What you say will activate one or the other.  The spirit of fear is not of God, but of the devil (2 Timothy 1:7).  The spirit of faith believes and therefore speaks.  Notice the operation:  he believes and then speaks!  Believing is in the heart of man (soul and imagination) and speaking is with the mouth.  In order for your words to be packed with faith and power, you must believe in your heart.  This means you will see things in your heart, in your thought-life, in your imagination, before you see them in the natural.  In the natural, we see ourselves driving that new car before we actually find it.  We have a blueprint of our new house before we see it built.  Even before you break ground, you know how many bedrooms it will have, how big the kitchen is, and where the bathrooms are.  The Word of God is the blueprint of your faith.  It will paint a picture of you totally healed while you are sick, anointed before you feel like it, wealthy while your bank account is empty.  When what you see in you is bigger than what you see in the natural –- you are believing with your heart!  Let the Word of God paint the picture of the Truth in your heart.  See the Word and not the problem.  Believe in your heart.

...I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;

— 2 Corinthians 4:13b

We have taken time to study and meditate on the Word of God.  We have heard the Word and continue to hear the Word, so our faith is strong and growing.  We are no longer considering or seeing the problem, symptom, or situation, but we are seeing the promises of the Word of God.  We are now believing with our heart.  Since we believe with our heart, we will now speak what we believe.  Out of the abundance of our heart, our mouth will now speak (Matthew 12:34b)!  We are now calling things which are not as though they were (Romans 4:17).  We are releasing the force of faith with power!  What is in us, in our heart (spirit and soul), is coming forth with total agreement!  What we are speaking is a reality, what we are saying is fact!  God said in the midst of darkness, chaos, and the void, “Let there be light” or “Light in Me, be,” and light was (Genesis 1:1, 2).  If He had spoken about chaos, about the void, about darkness -– light would have never been.  But God has light in Him; He believed light in His heart and spoke it with His mouth and it became!  If you believe in your heart, healing will become, abundance will become, victory will be in your life.  It matters little what you see in the natural; what you believe in your heart will change it!  Cooperate with the spirit of faith.  Believe it in your heart and speak it with your mouth.  This will put into operation the law of faith.

Let [God’s words] not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.  For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.  Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

— Proverbs 4:21-23

The Word gets in your heart by meditating on it daily -– chewing on it, mulling it over in your mind, using your imagination to “see” it happening, even muttering it to yourself when you wake up, make a meal, drive to work.  Where are the places you could pop in a CD or plug in your smartphone earbuds to hear good teaching during the day?  Then, as you set your heart to hear the Word, be aware that, at the same time, the enemy is after that Word (Mark 4:15).  The devil doesn’t want it to bear fruit in the ground of your heart, because then his days with you are over!  Guard that Word by being aware of the thoughts going through your head.  Is there anything contradicting what the Word says?  Cast it down and speak the Truth.  The effectiveness of this can be easily proven.  Try this:  count to 10 in your mind and somewhere in the middle of counting, speak your name out loud.  What happened to the numbers?  They vanished.  Guard your heart and the Word you planted and are cultivating there, by speaking that Word out loud.  It doesn’t have to be spoken to anyone but yourself and the devil.  Don’t allow the birds (thoughts) to build a nest in your hair as they fly over (through) your head!  Speak the Truth out loud instead!